The $750 Complete Kitchen Remodel

It took a total of 5 weeks, start to finish. Minus 2 days. 2 days shy of 5 weeks … not bad, considering that this was a one man project.

Without further chatter, here are the before pictures:

Typical builder grade, pre-fab wood cabinets … complete with bright white wood trimmed formica. And uber boring backsplash.
Lots of fake/faux wood veneer on every side panel of the cabinets. Builder penny pinching at its finest.

I would like to say that there wasn’t anything wrong with our kitchen. If your kitchen looks like mine, it’s a lovely fully functioning kitchen … it’s just boring. That’s all. ;)

And the desk. Oh man. The desk. Two tiny cabinets that didn’t hold much at all. That desk was a continual struggle for my OCD self.

Paper hanging lanterns … cause I used to think they looked ‘cool’. I don’t know. I really just don’t know. So, don’t ask.

This 7” white porcelain sink might have been my absolute least favorite thing about this very plain kitchen. It was the ‘armpit’ of the kitchen, if you will.

And finally, my el cheapo IKEA chair … purchased many years ago out of desperation when I just couldn’t find a desk chair (within my budget) that I liked.

Combine all those boring builder grade (or worse) aspects … wait 6 1/2 years … and you’ll be where I was at. I was just plain tired of that kitchen. Tired of keeping it clean. Tired of cooking in it. Entertaining in it. Doing dishes in it. I needed change.

And … here we are:

Superman ripped out the crown moulding on the cabinets and replaced it with thicker moulding, added trim on the bottom side of the cabinets, installed under cabinet lighting, replaced the veneer side panels with trimmed bead board, painted the inside and outside of the cabinets, replaced the counters with marble, replaced the sink, replaced the backsplash with split faced travertine, replaced light fixtures … and then, called it quits. :D

There really are no words for the finished product. That backsplash consists of 1,700 tiles … each placed one at a time.

The marble tiles used for the countertops were painstakingly cut to be installed with a zero grout line.

We found unfinished cabinets at Home Depot for roughly $200 … and Superman finished them out with paint, crown moulding, bead board, and under trim to match the rest. He’s going to install under cabinet lighting here as well … and clearly, we have a cord situation that we need to take care of; but, overall, I am very pleased with the desk area.

I kissed all of the IKEA mirrors and clutter goodbye … and hung triple mirror in its place.

Superman even refinished my kitchen table … read about that

The lights above the sink and desk are original to the home … we dug them back out of the attic and spray painted the brass bases with the oil rubbed bronze paint.

He did such a beautiful job … I am truly one spoiled girl.

One of my favorite parts is the new stainless 9” deep sink and goose neck faucet, with built in soap dispenser. :D I know I sound silly. It’s the little things.

To give the chair a face lift, he sprayed the base with oil rubbed bronze spray paint … and then painted the seat and back to match the cabinets. I love it!

So, here are the before and after pictures … side by side. The $750 Complete Kitchen Remodel